Wednesday, November 30, 2005

John Derbyshire isn't one of the most beloved conservatives, but he goes to far when he writes this in NRO :

t is, in fact, a sad truth about human life that beyond our salad days, very few of us are interesting to look at in the buff. Added to that sadness is the very unfair truth that a woman's salad days are shorter than a man's — really, in this precise context, only from about 15 to 20. The Nautilus and the treadmill can add a half decade or so, but by 36 the bloom is definitely off the rose. Very few of us, however, can face up to this fact honestly, and I am sure this diary item will generate more angry e-mails of protest than everything else I have written this month.

It is not merely due to the fact that I am beyond the 36th year of my life that I disagree with him. A woman's "salad days" are from 15 to 20?? WTF is he talking about? Many women in those "salad days" - especially in the 15 year-old range are definitely not in full womanly plumage. I was barely half-a-head of lettuce back then.

When I was in my teens, I longed for a woman's body; in my mind, that was someone in their twenties.

Now, I'm not speaking for myself, but to say that no woman past the age of 36 is worth looking at is just blaspheme. It shows an immaturity of the mind. I hope his wife doesn't put out for a month.